I am not a natural born gardener. I have several and I do mean several, strikes against me. The list begins with some killer hay fever, followed by exercise induced asthma that is acerbated by my hay fever and finally, throw in actually breaking out in hives while pulling weeds and yes, you have someone inclined to put their fingers in the ears and sing "LALALALALALA" when it's time to work in the backyard.
Kent doesn't exactly have a lot of free time either, which means minimal upkeep most of the growing season. We're pretty sure we have neighbors that specifically built their privacy fence so the view from their perfectly manicured lawn wouldn't be marred by our occassional weed fest coupled with dead and drying grass. You see we have a bad habit of watering things that provide food and often forget the other parts of the lawn.
Actually years ago we planted raspberries along our fence. Would you believe those plants sent shoots under the fence and literally left our yard for the other side of the chain link fence, where the neighbor actually waters regularly? Traitor plants. :)
Well, we've had a lot of rain this past month which of course means lots of growth of, well, pretty much everything. Throw in rain Every. Single. Time. Kent has tried to mow and you have a jungle in a very short period of time.
Today, looking across the backyard, it was painfully clear we needed to tend to our yard. Our poor neighbor next to us doesn't own a privacy fence and her yard is looking so incredibly pretty next our green disaster. Her raspberries look especially nice as well.
So the girls started the great dog poop hunt. Kent moved the last bit of cattle panel, a remnant from when our dog was young and strong and use to jump the fence to go play with the neighborhood dogs and I, well, pulled a lot of weeds and grass.
I worked along the two side fences and into an especially weedy section of the yard. I cleaned out around the three grape vines and the fruit trees and cleaned up the fence bordering our raspberry neighbors. I noticed that the weediest section of the yard was an area that Kent had rototilled repeatedly the year before. You see, Kent was thinking he'd try raspberries again in a raised bed. So he rototilled the grass up and kept it clear all summer. We never got the bed built and winter went with that portion of the yard unnoticed.
I hadn't thought before on how the grass helps keep the weeds out and it struck me on the how similar our yard was to spiritual matters. When we have our spiritual self filled with good things, that we tend and care for regularly, it's a lot harder for those awful weeds to get in. This patch of former yard was filled with the most noxious weeds I've encountered, thick and well established. It was very different then the prickly weeds I pull from the established and well tended grass, that are young with little roots, easy to pluck out.
Speaking of easy plucking, when we bought our first house, I was terribly unfamiliar with Idaho weeds. Our front flower bed had a little teeny weed that looked harmless enough and I just didn't bother to pull. Each time I looked, that weed was a little bigger and a little stronger, still I didn't pull it. Before long, I realized how formidable that weed looked and finally decided I'd better get it out of the garden.
I then realized this weed had spines all along the stem, these spines give some of the most painful splinters I've ever experienced. The root also ran very deep and was thicker around then my thumb. I could not even start to pull out the weed. I wasn't strong enough. This ugly reminder of my laziness stayed all summer near our front gate. As fall fell around me, I tried to get all the seeds from the weed before it could spread further and of course my efforts were fruitless. Finally with it's death, I was able to get the shovel and remove this eyesore from the flower bed.
I have since learned that when this weed first appears in the spring, you can easily pluck it out of the soil with just your thumb and pointer finger. I now pull this weed whenever I see it, where ever I may be.
How easy is it to pluck the things amiss out of our lives when the problems are small and haven't had a chance to burrow deep, thick roots into our being? Ignoring may be easier in the short term but I promise plucking Satan's weeds out of our lives will in the end be the easier choice. And if there's nothing good or bad there in our spiritual selves, then it's time to fill ourselves with things of worth, so those bad seeds don't have anywhere to go.
Like the raspberry patch that was rototilled and never planted, if we leave ourselves devoid of the things that invite the spirit, prayer, scripture study, quality time with family, service, love of our Savior and everything he has to offer, then whether we want weeds or not, the weeds will take root. No matter what you believe, you can still fill your life with things of worth, family, charity, love of others, love and care of this beautiful world. I promise your life will be richer should you do so but don't leave yourself blank, rototilled and unplanted.
The weeds are ugly and ruthless if you do so.
If your yard is overgrown and full of weeds, the support of family working together makes taming that yard much easier. Sometimes you just can't shoulder the burden alone and it's surprising how many are willing to help.
So my beautiful children (because, who else am I writing to?), make your spiritual selves bloom. Plant only those things of worth. Pull baby weeds daily and if you miss something, pull that ugly weed out as soon as you realize it's there, before the root is thick and deep and painful to pull out. And if you need to, take benadryl (pray, read scriptures) before you go out in the yard. You'll be a much happier person and when people meet you, they'll admire your inner strength gained from tending your spiritual backyards.
Thank you.
ReplyDelete